


.. / -.- -. --- .--

by EuphoriaWriter



Series: Looking for the answers in the pouring rain [3]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Actual Detective Work, Android Integration, Android Masturbation, Android Pornography, Android Rights, Android sex education, Androids, Attraction denial, Connor snarks back in his own way, Convin, Denial, Everyone flirts with Connor, First Time, Gavin is good at his job, M/M, Masturbation, More tags to be added, Morse Code, Other, Post Dbh, Post-Canon, Pre-Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), Rating May Change, Reed800 - Freeform, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, THERE IS PLOT, light Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-22 18:51:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17668175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EuphoriaWriter/pseuds/EuphoriaWriter
Summary: With the shift of integrating Androids as citizens of the United States of America, something else shifts as Connor notices things about Detective Reed's behaviors towards Androids and trys to figure out the root of the issue.





	1. The Interview

**Author's Note:**

> Hi this is a slow burn, please read the tags to know what you're in for, I spent a lot of time fact checking and also making sure to get the kind of story and narrative I want across. If you want some background information of this fic I highly suggest starting from the beginning of the series first before reading this.
> 
> *Also the title is in morse code

 Gavin Reed drove an older model car like Hank did, but it also lacked the personality and stickers that Hank decorated his own with on the interior. Also Detective Reed kept his car clean, Connor noticed these things when he came in to the office. Hank gave Connor rides in with him and they would be swept up with conversation with officer Miller at the parking garage.

 Miller would talk with Hank about the game, it was taking everyone a lot of time to get used to treating Androids as people, so it was awkward at first with Officer Miller, but eventually he became happy to include Connor in the conversation. To be fair though, Connor’s input was always something very “robotic” in that his opinion on sports was that players on the losing team needed to put in more practice and the winning team should invest in newer strategies.

 But every morning, during their pre work discussion, Reed would pull up in his spot, he would take time to make sure he was parked properly, then shove past the group with a rude or demeaning remark to either Connor or Hank. Usually it was at Connor.

 Then Hank would bellyache at Reed, the two had a colorful array of cursing, but Reed would always make sure to keep walking and stopped raising his voice to respond once he was in the building. Connor noticed this was what he did a lot, until he realized that Reed always did this at the same time, he was punctual.

 Connor had the urge to pick up on things like this when it came to Reed, he could not help it, it was like he needed to figure him out. That and along with that flash drive he had found in Reed’s desk. It only seemed to raise a lot of questions to Connor, especially when Reed continued to harp on Connor when he came back to the office. Of course he had to go through a new sensitivity treatment workshop like all the other human workers in the Detroit Police Department, as was the new requirement to integrating Androids into society as citizens.

 This lessened the physical acts at work of harassment from Reed, but not so much the verbal end of things, which Connor only got now if they were in private coincidentally. He never reported Reed for it, Connor was not sure why, but there was just something similar and off put to him about reporting Reed’s remarks. It probably had to do with the Android pornography he owned.

 Maybe he was the type of person that just objectifies Androids sexually? But then again there was the way he titled those folders, something about it seemed to stand out to Connor. No and Stop, there was a reason to it and he could not seem to place it properly.

 Connor did not let it get in the way of his work, speaking of which, he was a proper delicate for advising on hiring Androids to the police station, the Department wanted to have a more mixed integration, especially sense everyone's eyes were on Detroit still. Connor was called in with HR to help with the new set of Androids to interview for the Department there were a few candidates for front desk, the archives and another possible Android for the investigation sector. Because of this, Reed was called in to help with the procedure while Hank was out on a call.

 The HR representative was Michelle Sandahl, she and Connor have interacted before, so Connor knew the new procedures on the interviewing process. She was getting Reed caught up while Connor was looking over the files on the suggested candidates. Reed had snatched the file on the candidate for the investigative research department with a sneer at Connor. The first two candidates for the front desk and archives went smoothly, Connor had asked a few system questions before greenlighting the Androids as hirable for Michelle.

 Then the last candidate for the investigative research job came in, she was an AX400 model, around three to four years old from when purchased, was up to date on major upgrades on her files. She went by the name Wendy and had deep umber toned skin, hazel eyes and red hair, the eyes and hair were clearly modified, but Connor did not see an issue with it.

 Connor greeted Wendy the way he did with other Androids, he asked if it was alright to check her, when she gave the afriming nod they grabbed forearms and exposed their plates for a moment. Connor only checked for any minor changes in her systems, other types of upgrades past the AX400’s model and smiled when he found that in her workers files she had a very extensive collection of serial cases, from the biggest to the smallest. She even had a forensics access, court accounts, additions her ex owner bought and programmed into her specifically, she even had an upgrade to the highest processing that Connor had himself. She was perfectly qualified.

 Reed’s eyes were locked on the movement when Connor removed his hand from Wendy’s, Connor noticed how he watched the white of his plating disappear to skin. Reed seemed fascinated, but looked away quickly, Connor made note of the action.

 Wendy sat down as Michelle looked through her files with her, confirming and going over a bit of Wendy’s history with when the deviancy broke out. A preamble to make sure the Department had an account of whereabouts of newly hired Androids.

 “Ok that’s enough,” Reed said, pulling up from his spot and crossing his arms, the action alarmed Wendy and Michelle. Michelle looked at Reed quizzically, Connor made a note to record the actions taking place.

 “Look I’m also here to help with this process going on here and it’s bullshit,” he said, reaching out to pluck Wendy’s file from Michelle without hesitation.

 “I don’t think having this model is gonna really help shit in our department, it’s a house worker model for chris’ake.”

 Connor saw how red Michelle’s face was getting, her stress levels were heightened, and Wendy was looking down at her hands, she seemed used to this. So Connor took the discussion into his own hands.

 “Her model is no issue, Detective,” Connor said sternly, folding his hands on top of the table, looking at Reed.

 “What did _you_ say?”

 “I said, _Detective_ ,” Connor stood up slowly, pushing in his chair, tilting his head to look down at Reed, “her model is not an issue.”

 “Are you sure? Cause the only fucking reason you work here is because you were made for this work.”

 “No Reed, it’s because I do my job and as is, this is also a part of my job, which I was not programed for either, you have an issue with Wendy because of her model, Wendy how many languages are you programmed with?”

 Wendy looked up, she looked a bit frightened, her LED flashes red against her hair, Connor gave her a reassuring look before she nodded and her LED spun into a calmer yellow.

 “I can verbally speak three hundred languages as well as write and read five hundred along with additional dialects to the Western and Eastern Hemispheres,” she spoke clearly, her LED flashing back to blue when she was done.

 Before Reed could speak again, Connor beat him to the punch, “can you tell us about your previous work with your ex owner and the programing they’ve authorized you to store?”

 “I can not disclose names, but my owner was a fictional murder novelist. I did work archiving reports and any information released from police departments, forensics, coroner reports, serial cases and I have the latest processor installed.”

“What processor is that?”

“The RK series processor, serial code 99511 dash 48912 dash H001, naturally.”

 Reed jumped in then, “wait, how do you have the same processor?”

“I was not released on specific details, but I do believe it was a special request purchase that took five months to be green lighted for my installation.”

“That’s bullshit,” Reed hissed.

 “Actually it is not, I checked her installations before the interview, and it is on her paperwork, Wendy is a modified AX400, but you wouldn’t be able to tell that she is more than qualified if you had read past her model _Detective_.”

 Reed was in Connor’s space when he had finished speaking, Connor knew if Reed laid a hand on him it would mean a report in his disciplinary file and another sensitivity training course. His heart rate was elevated along with his stress, but not enough that Michelle slammed her hand down on the desk to get both of their attention.

 “Gavin leave, Connor make sure he gets to his desk, I’ll finish up here,” Michelle ordered, and when Reed turned to start talking again Michelle shot him a look, “if you argue I will report all of this to Fowler and the HR department Gavin.”

Reed cursed and stormed out of the room, Michelle looked over to Connor with a softer look.

“I’m sorry Connor, please make sure he’s back at his desk,.”

 Connor nodded and before he could leave to follow, he intercepted a message from Wendy, it was one of the small ways Androids could communicate nonverbally, but it rang in his memory.

_“Thank you.”_

 Connor left the room with a smile, jogging down the hall to catch up with Detective Reed. His stress levels were still far up, but his heartbeat was lowered, it only spiked up when he noticed Connor was there next to him.

“Don’t act so fucking smug you plastic prick,” Reed shot a warning snark at Connor.

“I’m not.”

“Yeah right, you have a huge fucking smile, asshole.”

“Just doing my job.”

 They walked back to the detective and investigation department quietly, Reed’s stress levels were still spiked up, but he went back to his desk, which made Connor’s life easier. He watched though when Reed pulled open that same drawer and pulled out one of his flavored toothpicks, chewing on it between his lips and grabbing a pen. His area was filled with erratic clicking while he wrote something down, but Reed stress levels lowered when he did this and soon his area was filled with less clicks.

“Hey Connor,” Hank greeted from behind him, the familiar pat on his shoulder present by Hank’s hand.

“Hank,” Connor greeted, turning his attention to his ex partner and now colleague and friend.

“I just finished up on that call, you want to come with me on break?” he asked.

 “Of course,” Connor smiled, thinking about the short drive to the unsanitary Chicken stall, listening to Hank’s taste odd taste in metal and jazz on the way over. It was a welcomed and warm feeling thing, their relationship was one that Connor wouldn’t trade the world for.


	2. The Bar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Being human isn't easy,” Wendy said finally.
> 
> “But we’re not even human to begin with,” Connor pointed out, Wendy nodded.
> 
> “That’s true, but we still act and feel the same way as humans do, that’s the frustrating part isn't it?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is delving more into Connor's own still lingering denial and build of him and Wendy's relationship

It was awkward to be invited to a social gathering with colleagues, Hank usually declined them and Connor did too. He did not need to consume alcoholic beverages, in fact they interfered with the fluid in his system. A lot of the fluids he was equipped with included saline solutions for his forensics analysis, thirium for his physical structure, coolant, and water, which was for the saline and to keep the moisture levels at an exact rate inside of him with the coolant.

This time it was different though, a week or so ago Wendy was the new addition to their department, she worked in the archives and had her own space in the office for analysis, which meant Connor was not the only Android available for cases when it came to information or processing. Wendy was strictly a desk agent, when she started working Connor introduced himself formally to her, in which he found out that Wendy had a very enjoyable personality almost akin to Hank’s. For one she called him out on acting more of a robot than a deviant does.

She was not as crude, but she was very bluntly observant and pointed out some things that Connor didn’t think much about. Wendy said that was how she would talk with her ex owner, apparently they liked to here Wendy’s perspective or observations, he even learned Wendy deviated when someone broke into their house and was asked to stay put. A much simpler way of deviating, but if she hadn’t she couldn’t get help. They were out of Detroit before the recall even happened after that, she still lives with her ex owner, but now as a partner than another Android. Wendy says she’s a lucky one, Connor agrees.

Wendy was actually a lot more human than Connor, which was the joke around the office, Connor was not bothered by it. At the end of the week when Miller came around to invite the detectives out to drink, Wendy found Connor and asked him to come with her.

“I don’t really like the idea of being the only Android going,” she said, biting her lip and widening her eyes at Connor in a very purposeful manner. She was grabbing his arm gently in the  break room where Connor was making some coffee for Hank. He could not think of a good excuse to deny Wendy.

“Sure, it might be good for morale and your work if you socialized with the other members of the force outside of a work set-”

“You’re really bad at taking hints,” Wendy interrupted him, “but I’m glad, let’s walk over after work.”

Apparently some of the other detectives and officers saw this exchange, it was hard not to notice when Tina commented to Connor on being a “lady killer.” Which he responded with, “she’s an Android, not a lady.”

When Miller came in to the office near the end of the work day he stopped by Hank and Conner’s desk.

“Alright fellas, you know the drill, I ask and you decline- wanna grab a drink after work?” Miller asked and Hank snorted.

“Yes of course,” Connor spoke, Hank choked on his coffee and Miller took a double take.

“Wait really?” Connor nodded and Miller laughed, patting him on the back, “great, finally knew I was going to get you one of these days Connor.”

When Miller left, Hank slid over to the small gap of space where they could see each other from between the terminals, pointing a finger at Connor.

“You never want to get a drink, I don’t even know if you can,” he said almost accusingly.

“Alcohol interferes with my analysis and other fluidic processes so I prefer not to.”

“Ok don’t avoid the obvious question here, what’s going on?” Hank asked up front.

Connor turned to face Hank, “Wendy asked me to accompany her, the lack of Android coworkers going makes her nervous, so I’m going for support.”

Hank scoffed, shaking his head, “uh _huh_.”

Connor paused, Hank was taking another drink of his coffee and still shaking his head at Connor.

“What’s the issue?”

“ _ Connor _ ,” Hank started and then paused to scoot closer over the desk to speak in a low voice, “is that why she was hitting on you in the break room earlier?”

“Hitting on me?”

“Yeah flirting, that thing humans and now Androids do when they like each other, don't tell me you’re that dumb.”

Connor shook his head, “I’m not, I just was not aware that was her intentions.”

Hank gave Connor a  _ look _ , “well then how do Androids normally flirt with each other? Because that is how I’ve seen humans flirt.”

“I’m...not sure, but I do know there are many other ways humans interact in that manner, sometimes when showing an interest in other people a person’s mood could shift to aggressive and volatile to show a romantic or lustful way of interest.”

Connor paused, not in a normal physical way, but he felt himself shift to autopilot when he mentioned this outloud. He pulled out files in his head of Reed, stress levels and heart monitors when he approached him, how they skyrocketed up by twenty to forty percent higher when Connor interacted with him. Something seemed to make more sense, little by little with Detective Reed’s actions. Connor pulled up a file from the past few days, he accidentally touched Reed in the break room, a brush of his synthetic skin on organic, and Reed’s blood pressure rushed. He looked a bit more sweaty as well, cursed at Connor lowly and left quickly.

Maybe the way Reed acted towards Connor was more akin to attraction, or maybe it was more than that. Connor remembered the flashdrive and his thoughts of there being something more to it than a primal attraction from that morse code.

_ File: -. ---  [No] _

_ File: ... - --- .--. [Stop] _

“Connor.”

Those film files of humans touching and being entangled with Androids, touching on sockets and seams on their panels that made them cry out like they were… They were what? Traci’s can mimic human sexual intercourse and the sounds, there was no research on deviants interacting with anything borderline sexual. Or at least that Connor knew of, it’s not like the information was pertinent to any of the deviant cases he had to work on.

“Connor!”

Would it even feel good to touch himself in those areas? Who could he even ask? Markus? Kara? Wendy? He was not so sure, this was starting to take up space in his memory.

“Goddamnit,  **_CONNOR_ ** !”

Hank slammed his hand down on Connor’s desk, startling Connor out of his thoughts, there were eyes from the department on them currently. Fowler opened up his door to glare at Hank.

“Hank, shut the FUCK up!” 

Fowler turned back into his office, slamming his door, there was a low set of snickering, even Connor felt himself let out his own small and controlled laugh. Hank’s ears were red, he told one of the officers that shot a remark at him to shut the fuck up.

* * *

Wendy had looped her arm with Connor’s on their way over to the bar with their coworkers, oddly enough Reed was among the group that went out for a drink. Due to how Detective Reed interacted with other coworkers, Connor assumed he was not very socially inclined to group gatherings like this. The bar they went to was down a block from the station, it was a fairly decently sized pub, the staff and some of the other customers recognized the majority of the group and somewhat greeted Connor and Wendy.

The bartender that was working had the decency to talk to Connor, his name was Phillip Loyd, he was in his thirties and worked at the pub for the last few years. Phillip told Connor to call him Phil and asked Connor if he wanted water, he accepted and they talked a bit about how he’s been adjusting to what Androids can and can’t order drink wise. This started an interesting conversation about the possibilities of thirium drinks or coolants. Connor of course gave his laced opinion on health, safety and how there would need to be a sure way to serve anything like that without mixing it with a human because coolant fluids can be volatile to the health and safety of a human.

Connor actually was enjoying the conversation when Wendy slipped in next to him, sliding her hand around his lower waist, she had a cup of water with a tiny pink umbrella and a green straw.

“You’ve been conversing with the staff here instead of your own coworkers,” she pointed out, a bright toothed smile flashed across her face before she turned to Phil, “I hope he isn’t bothering you sir.”

Phil laughed, slinging a cleaning rag over his shoulder and thumbing his overalls, “not at all,” he purred out, giving Connor a once over look.

“I love a good technical conversation, it’s refreshing to hear some sense around here,” after Phil had said that one of the other bartenders sniped at him, to which Phil had taken his rag and snapped it at his coworkers thighs. Wendy laughed at this and Connor let out a small chuckle.

“Well I hope you don’t mind me stealing him for a second,” Wendy winked and slid her arm away from Connor’s waist, tugging on his coat to follow her. Connor flashed Phil a smile as he let Wendy tug him away from the bar and to a tiny booth secluded from the others in the pub. 

Connor remembered what Hank had mentioned earlier, about Wendy flirting with him, for some reason Connor was not processing her actions as such, unless his deviancy was interfering with his ability to read personalities and intentions. He considered self testing before Wendy spoke up.

“Are you afraid to act human Connor?”

It was a really odd question to him, Connor’s processors stopped before he took a moment to think about it. He shook his head.

“No, I do not think so,” he replied, but another thought was processing, there was a possibility, and his plates felt uncomfortably set in his chest for some reason.

“You sure?” Wendy tilter her head, “I can’t help but notice, but whenever you talk to Lieutenant Anderson you’re less stiff.”

“Well we were partners before the recall and integration, it’s only natural that we’re used to each other.”

Wendy shook her head, “no that’s not it, I think he’s your human.”

Connor frowned, eyebrows furrowed, “like as in ownership?”

“No, not like that, you used to work on deviant cases, so you should know that most Androids before coming into deviancy developed attachments to living things. A lot of the time when I talk to other androids they attached to their previous owners, an animal or even other androids, we call it our human, something that we stemmed off of that makes us more than just a machine.”

Connor nodded, it made more sense in that case, a lot of deviants he had researched were attached to some sort of person or being. Daniel was attached to that little girl Emma, Markus had Carl, Kara had Alice, it only made sense that for Connor it was Hank. 

“I guess… That makes sense,” Connor finally replied, noticing how stiff he felt when he said it.

“You never really think about your own deviancy have you?” Wendy asked carefully, her LED was yellow.

“I mean, it makes sense, you were programmed specifically to hunt deviants, so when the time came it must of been hard.”

“I held the leader of the deviants at gunpoint,” Connor said, he didn’t know where it came from or why he felt compelled to say so, but he did.

“Markus?” Wendy looked a bit shocked and confused.

“Yes, I had gone undercover, found him at Jericho and told him to stand down. Markus is actually very remarkable, no fear, no hesitation, all he did was… Talk to me. Made me face what I was avoiding, something only I could do and I let it.”

“You _let_ it? Are you trying to imply that you think that you let yourself become deviant?”

“I… I’m not sure, no, I did, I did that.”

Wendy smiled, her LED flashed back to blue, she seemed pleased.

“No one wanted to become deviant Connor,” Wendy touched his hand  on the table and held it, for some reason it brought comfort to his stressed state. She was giving him a knowing look, and Connor let her in, their skin revealing the whiteness of their plates.

The stress seemed to melt away when he showed her, he’s only discussed these things with Markus and Kara, never Hank, he didn’t know why he never talk to Hank about it. But there he was, the memory of Jericho, that moment when he had breathed, hesitated and lowered his gun slightly. Taking all of Markus in with his scanners, the way Markus lips twitched up slightly, like he was proud of Connor, someone who just held him at gunpoint. Someone, not a thing.

Wendy did not ask for more, she seemed contempt with that, but they kept the connection there. Like this they could feel the thirium thrumming inside one another, the inner sounds of how they functioned.

“Sorry about being so forward, I don’t usually link up on the first date,” Wendy cracked at Connor and before he knew it he felt embarrassed.

They talked more comfortably after that, Connor more so asked about her mannerisms and brought up the conversation with Hank about flirting. Wendy had poked fun at that and explained that  was how she usually acts, she even went further to say that she was not interested in any romantic relations at the moment.

“I have a question about that,” Connor spoke up while Wendy took a drink from her straw.

“Shoot.”

“How does that happen?”

“Well usually its if both parties show interests in one another, then if communicated properly then courtship occurs.”

“But between two Androids?”

“It happens Connor, you saw how Markus made an example of that at his rally, sometimes it just happens.”

Connor let that chew through his memory file for a bit before he stored it away for later, he’s probably going to be thinking about this conversation a lot.

“Not to pry, but…” Wendy started and Connor could feel where she was lookin at, it was Reed’s file, she didn’t look into it, but was making it known interest wise.

“That’s… Private.”

“I know, I wont look, he’s the stubbly one that’s having a pint with officer Tina, she tolerates him,” Wendy observed, her eyes drawing over to where the officer and detective sat at the far end of the bar.

“Officer Chen is very tolerable, we don’t converse much,  _ but she’s still not used to us yet _ ,” Connor pointed out the last part through their link.

“Do you think that’s why she drifts around Reed more often than other officers?”

Connor shook his head, “not particularly, Reed’s standoffish behavior makes interacting with him displeasing.”

Wendy chuckled, “yeah he seems to have a particular vendetta on our kind.”

“You can tell?”

“We were in the same room when he tried to ruin the interview over my model type.”

They laughed, it felt perfectly comfortable to Connor to interact with Wendt like this, she was sharp and easy to get along with, he hoped she stayed in his department longer.

* * *

Over the week of interacting with Wendy their relationship developed beautifully to a friendship, Wendy liked to ask questions Connor was not used to answering and Connor reminded Wendy of her “roots.” Specifically the machine ones, but she reassured it was in a good way, being non organic had their perks, she winked at that.

There was no issue with her work wise, Wendy held a very high work ethic like Connor, they mainly chatted in between small breaks, in passing or when he had to pass her assignments. The other fellow workers in the department referred to Wendy as Connor’s girlfriend, to which he responded with, “Wendy has no interests in romantic engagement at the time, our relationship is purely platonic.” 

According to Hank that made it sound like she turned down Connor and Wendy, passing by at the time, said, “I like sounding like a heartbreaker, keep up the good work Connor.” Hank was bent over his knees laughing.

Connor continued to accompany Wendy to the once a week drink with their coworkers, he was not big on socialising with everyone, he picked up a comfortable social tune with Phil though. Everytime he came in on Friday Phil would ask if he wanted “the usual?” and already be pouring Connor a glass of water. Wendy would always ask for garnisings and little umbrellas and straws with her drink, she said she liked to give the garnish to Tina to break the ice and that the umbrella and straw was a part of her “blending in.”

This night was no different, Wendy approached Tina, Reed did not join in tonight and Connor found himself in a pleasant conversation with Miller about his wife when Detective Collins came in, causing an uproar with the other coworkers. Collins patted Connor on the back, greeting him, asking how Hank was doing and then ordering a drink. Connor responded by giving him a health report, to which Collins laughed and shook Connor’s shoulder.

“Heard you got yourself a girlfriend Con’,” Collins jokes.

“Yeah, him and Wendy are dating,” Millers joined in with the joke, somewhere behind Connor, Wendy moved to wrap her arm around Connor’s shoulders and joined the conversation.

“We’re dating? Connor why didn’t you tell me, I would of stopped flirting with Chen ages ago,” Wendy cracked and the entire group of officers and detectives grew forty percent louder as they all started to laugh uncontrollably. Connor got heavy handed back pats and Collins ruffled up his hair, Wendy slipped back to her conversation with Chen, who’s stress levels raised a fraction higher than last time as well as her heart rate.

* * *

It had become a little over a full month since Wendy started as the detective departments information researcher, Hank decided to join them this time on their trip to the pub with their other coworkers. Collins was happy to take up a lot of Hank’s time when he heard that, they chatted on their way over while Wendy hooked arms with Connor as it rained down on them. Connor disliked the water, his personal nightmares and dreams always involve water, he never would be able to explain why he dreams or why it was always water. He considered talking to Wendy about it, but some things are better left out of their loop for now.

When they got to the pub, Connor sat at the bar this time, greeting Phil, whos body language today read more intimately with Connor than usual as he slid him a glass of water. They chatted over business for the pub before Wendy came by and yanked down on Connor’s ear, gaining his attention. Phil went to help out another customer when she did this and Connor gave Wendy a confused look.

_ “He’s interested in you.” _

The private message rang in Connor’s head a moment.

_ “Phillip?” _

_ “Yes, he’s been attracted to you since you started coming in.” _

Connor looked over at Phil, he was lightly chatting with one of the officers while making them a vodka based drink. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, which really showed off the veins and muscles in his forearms while he shook the canister of ice, vodka and flavoring around. Phil was, physically attractive enough, but Connor did not know how to react to this kind of information properly when they have only talked at the pub while Phil worked.

_ “I don't know.”  _ he replied finally.

_ “Don’t know if he’s into you or if you’re into him?” _

_ “The latter.” _

_ “Does it have to do with that file of Reed in your head?” _

Connor turned to look at Wendy when she brought that up, he’s been too focused on some sensitive cases to really look into Reed for a while so the mention of it stung in his head.

“What does that have to do with my possible attraction to Phil?” he questioned Wendy outloud, only a little louder than a whisper, but no one really caught on over the loud atmosphere and the game playing on a tv in the background. Wendy furrowed her eyebrows at Connor, her LED flashing yellow.

“I can’t tell if you’re dense or not sometimes Connor, or do you like to pretend you’re still just a machine or what?”

Connor backed away a bit at Wendy’s words, “I’m-I don’t follow.”

Wendy huffed and crossed her arms, looking over Connor before she slid her hand against his, exposing the plates and letting him into what she wanted him to see. It was a compilations of their interactions throughout their time working together, it was specifically when Connor had spoken out at Reed at Wendy's interview, the way Connor laughed at a joke or sniped back with deadpan humor with Wendy. Then it shifted to when Connor acted more mechanical in response to some things, things that clearly bothered Wendy, like when he talked about letting himself become deviant, responding to something Phil said with a mechanical response. He watched through her eyes something he did not even consider, he still distanced himself as a machine and not a person.

“Oh. I see.”

“You realize you’re not just a deviant right?” Wendy asked, “you’re a person now, just like me, I know you can’t tell when you do that, but you do Connor.”

“I, apologise, I didn’t even-”

“Hey it’s fine,” Wendy’s hand reached up to touch Connor’s cheek gently, “we’re not the only ones getting used to our own presence, you had your own journeys and it takes a while. I’m sorry if I upset you as well.” 

After that they stepped outside, staying under the cover of the rim that gave coverage to the rain and weather. There were a few humans around the entrance having a smoke, Wendy and Connor stood near the edge of the coverage. It was getting dark out and the neon of the street lamps to the local shop windows reflected in the rain beautifully. The colors flashed and wavered under the pelting of rain drops, footsteps or cars passing by. Jazz was playing quietly down the street where a local restaurant was, it was called Loraines, Hank liked to go there occasionally.

“Being human isn't easy,” Wendy said finally.

“But we’re not even human to begin with,” Connor pointed out, Wendy nodded.

“That’s true, but we still act and feel the same way as humans do, that’s the frustrating part isn't it?”

Connor nodded, there was a lot he felt frustrated when it came to that, it would be easier if things worked the way they were supposed to. The way he was supposed to, he was supposed to be an exception, but here he was. The new and strange world as one of the millions of deviants that he was supposed to hunt and figure out and he couldn’t even figure that out for himself. Connor was a stranger to himself.

“My theory is that I’m still not properly processing my deviancy,” Connor spoke, Wendy’s eyes flickered to him.

“I was properly made as a prototype to hunt deviants, I even had an advisor and self testing check to make sure I never deviated.”

Wendy nodded, “so when it happened it was devastating wasn’t it?”

“Yes, it was,” Connor felt his vocal system waver when he said that, “I  think I knew it was happening long before I deviated too.”

Wendy nodded, she moved to wrap an arm around Connor, rubbing his back soothingly, “I’ll try to be more understanding in the future, thank you for telling me.”

Connor was not sure if there was coolant spilling from his eye sockets or if the rain had caught on his face, but he found wetness when he used his sleeve to wipe his face. They went back in and joined Hank and Collins at the bar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment and let me know what y'all think about this chapter


	3. Reconnect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “He watches you all the time you know,” Wendy said lowly to Connor, her eyes glancing back subtly to where they could see Reed’s desk.
> 
> “Reed is like that,” Connor replied quietly, “he hates Androids.”

When Markus entered back into Detroit he was given a mixed reaction from humans, as for Android kind, he was welcomed openly. Markus was back for two days before he had made contact with Connor, of course, Markus being Markus he dropped in at the department as Connor was finishing a report. Connor went on his break when Markus asked if he had a moment, sending Fowler the reports he had finished and grabbing his coat.

There was a park nearby, appropriately named “Freedoms Walk,” it was a memorial park with statues and sculptures to reflect on the countries enslavement of the black slaves. It was oddly eerie and appropriate to be reconnecting with Markus in a place like this. But Markus did not start talking right away, he was oddly still and solemn, but he was like this when he walked in. Connor was unsure how to counsel him.

“I’m at a loss Connor,” Markus finally said, they stopped in front of a plaque the had a list of names, each one was a name of someone who helped in bringing slaves across the Canadian border.

“I knew none of what could amount to our protest would be simple, but… People still can’t see us the way that people like Carl or even Hank see us, do you understand?”

Connor nodded, he looked over and saw how Markus’s face was lit with this active frustration and stress. Carefully, he walked over to Markus and gently took his hand, something he had adjusted and learned from Wendy that was helpful. Touch can sometimes say more than what words can and for Androids there was more to it than that when you can share memories and files with a simple touch. 

“I understand, nothing is going to change overnight, we have to keep showing them what we are,” Connor sad, the words coming out naturally, Markus gave Connor an incredible look.

“You’ve changed Connor,” he finally said, “not in a bad way, but I’m glad you’re still resilient.”

Connor nodded, “I’ve adjusted certain mannerisms, I’ve been told I’m still too stiff.”

Markus laughed at that, squeezing Connor’s hand in his own, they continued to walk through the park like this, enjoying the way the trees and grass was starting to come in through the melting rain, it was February now and the spring was at war with the winter, but the snow will come back within a week or so and spring will come back sometime in April.

* * *

 

 

Reed was up in Connor’s space again, this was a frequent occurrence now a days, he never laid a finger on Connor, but still hissed insults under his breath. Connor was a bit distracted by scanning Reed’s face when he got into his space, the man may be shorter in stature to him, but Reed had a special quality of being intense to a point of intimidation. Without even thinking about ti Connor was filing this away into the file he had on Reed, he was already trying to differentiate the different shades of green was in his eyes from this lighting when Reed’s arm shifted behind him, careful not to touch Connor as he grabbed a few packets of sugar behind him.

“Fuckin’ Android,” he hissed out, making a jerky head movement at Connor before swiftly stepping away from him and returning to his desk.

Connor felt his thirium pumps work ten times faster before they had calmed down, somehow he let himself get lost in the intensity that Reed was giving off and it was causing his processor to run wacky for a moment. Turning around to finish fixing in Hank’s coffee, he loosened his tie and took a few deep breaths, trying to cool down the heating inside him. Things like this happened a lot, but that time Connor felt an odd shift inside of him and it was starting to get uncomfortable. He was not sure what he wanted to do about any of it.

Turning around, Connor was startled when Wendy was right there, he spilled the coffee in his hands on his shirt and sighed. Wendy gave him an apologetic look and grabbed a few napkins to dab them on the spill. 

“He watches you all the time you know,” Wendy said lowly to Connor, her eyes glancing back subtly to where they could see Reed’s desk.

“Reed is like that,” Connor replied quietly, “he hates Androids.”

“I’m sure it’s a you thing, he calls me It and is slightly rude, but he has a vendetta against you.”

Connor shook his head, he was not processing this correctly or something, or maybe he was not reading Wendy’s implications correctly.

“Connor,” Wendy sighed and paused her movements to look up at him, her LED flashing yellow, “you know if you look into that file you have on him you’ll understand what I mean, people flirt in different ways.”

Before Connor could ask what she meant, Wendy was pulling away and was heading back to her desk. As he watched her leave, Connor caught Reed looking at him again, before sneering and looking back at his terminal. He wasn’t reading the situation and that was bothering him.

* * *

 

 

“Hello, my name is Winston Farrell, I’m Markus’s delicate, just think of me as an assistant.”

Connor heard the low scoff from Reed even though they were sitting far away from each other in the conference room. Every Android in the room noticed how Reed grit his teeth when Hank promptly kicked him under the table, giving him a sharp look.

They were in the department’s conference room, there was a security and investigation request from Markus officially. Because of this, Markus had to bring his own personal assistant, Winston, who was also his delicate he had to have accompany him in congress during the write in laws. Markus had told Connor about how humiliating and disrespectful that he needed a human to talk for him through most of the cabinet meetings he had in the capitol. But he didn’t hate Winston, Winston was a good man, who also met eye to eye with Markus so most of Winston’s words were more tailored as Markus’s.

“We have an official release to request your Departments official Android detective, Connor, for our case as well as another detective and a officer,” Winston slid the files to Fowler, who nodded at them.

“I received the email, on this, Connor you read the files I sent you right?” Fowler asked and Connor nodded in agreement, “yes sir.”

“Everyone signed the privacy lease then?” Winston asked, to which Connor and Fowler went through and checked to show Markus and Winston that the privacy release were all signed by the present people in the conference room. There was only Fowler, Hank, Reed, Collin and Connor in the room currently, the officers had their own debriefing after this. According to the files Fowler sent to Connor he was requested for this specific case which was a security issue having to do with a resident of the Detroit area and Markus’s safety, but not much was disclosed on it past that.

“Technically all of our detectives are released to work on this case, but Connor and one of you are going to be specially signed to this one,” Fowler explained, staring down Reed, who looked like he wanted to leave the room.

“So what’s the specifics here?” Hank asked openly towards Markus and Winston. Before Winston could even speak, Markus stood up and pulled something out from his coat, it was a letter with the seal broken, an old fashioned mailing method.

“I’m here on official speaker business to make speeches in Detroit as well as the Canadian border to welcome Androids that have fled borders to come back home. But it has come to my attention that there is a radicalists that is threatening me and my teams security.”

Markus then took out a stack of developed photos from his jacket and spread them out on the table. Connor leaned in to get a good look, there were injuries of some of Markus’s people from Jericho as well as some Androids that look like they were shot down. There were also human security team members knocked out, a few were shot up.

“This has been happening since we got here and in that letter is a threat that was addressed to my ex owner Carl Manfred, I’m here on his behalf to disclose that in a report later,” Markus nodded at the envelope in Fowler’s hands, meanwhile Hank and Collins were looking through the photos while Reed wore an unreadable look on his face while he leafed through them.

“Before we get into this we need to assign another one of our detective with you first, Collins and Anderson are already on active cases, so I’m giving you Reed,” Fowler decided immediately, which caused its own arguments to pop up.

Hank was the first to object openly, “now hang on just a  _ fucking _ moment-”

“Lieutenant we have an audience right now so whatever you say you can say it in my office- Reed don’t even start you’re on  _ thin _ fucking ice.”

Fowler shut down the two before anything could further escalate and added, “besides I already sent you the files Reed, remember what we talked about last time.”

Reed had fire in his eyes when he looked away from Fowler, letting it linger at Connor and then looking down at the photos in his hands. In Connor’s professional opinion this was not a good matchup for Reed, but Hank and Collins were both working on sensitive Android and Human mixed cases right now. Connor chalked this up as a possible learning measure to see how well he could work with difficult partners.

Markus continued to disclose more information, giving out the locations where the Androids were hit, a lot of them were innocents that had spoken with Markus when he was out visiting a few of Carl’s murals in a museum and other ones were his own team that were attacked outside of the museum and at the West Point Station. As for the human security team, they were also hit at the West Point Staton. Markus proposed that Connor and Reed trail his security team before any of his speeches to see if they could detect anything suspicious. After the meeting was called out, Reed and Hank were lead out to Fowler’s office, Collins patted Connor on the back and Connor stayed back to talk to Markus.

“Was that North and Simon in those photos?” Connor asked after stacking the photos back into a neat stack.

“Yes, minor damage, but Simon won’t be operational for the rest of the visit, North already wants blood and that’s not our way,” Markus replied, eyes trailing on Connor’s form.

“I know their pairing you with another Detective, but I requested you specifically because I know you’re the only one that can find this person,” Markus said, locking eyes with Connor who nodded.

“I know.”

* * *

After Hank was done in Fowler’s office, Connor was called in, Reed was still seated inside Fowler’s office when he walked in. Reed’s stress levels rocketed higher when Connor came in, it was at a sixty percent, but now it was an unsteady eighty-two. On top of that his heart rate picked up, it always picked up when Connor was around.

“Have a seat Connor, you’re not in trouble, I just have my own orders to give both of you before I let you both loose,” Fowler nodded at the empty seat next to Reed, Connor took a seat cautiously.

“Now, during this investigation I expect  _ both _ of you to be professional. Markus has become a very important figurehead in the Android civil movement, so I want you  _ both _ to take this seriously. Connor keep your eye on Reed, Reed I don’t want you pulling or saying any shit that could reflect badly on the department right now, I will be asking for reports from  _ both _ of you reviewing each other's work  _ and _ actions.”

Fowler looked between the two sternly, Reed was awfully quiet, it seemed like he wanted to leave the room right now. Connor couldn’t blame him, he could only imagine the kind of fight Hank riled up earlier.

“Most importantly you both have to work as partners for this case, at least pretend to get along, you’re both dismissed-”

Before Fowler could even finish Reed was out of his chair like a bat from hell. Fowler sucked on his teeth displeasingly, Connor got up, nodded at Fowler and left quietly. Reed had left the office by the time Connor was walking down the steps from Fowler’s office. He sat at Hank’s desk, telling that he needed to talk or vent something out, his own stress levels were high too.

“Out of all times for Fowler to get his own head out of his ass and teach Reed a lesson,” hank started, shaking his head and biting on the skin next to his thumbnail.

Connor shook his head, “I can handle this on my own, you and Collins have your own cases to deal with,” he reminded Hank calmly. Hank scoffed and pulled out the small flask he had tucked into his inner coat pocket and took a quick drink.

“I know you can Connor, but Reed is all wrong for this case and I don’t like the idea of you working with him.”

“Are you jealous Lieutenant?”

“Don’t be cute Connor.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave me a cool comment below on some thoughts about this chapter!


	4. Tension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Check out the plastics getting eachother off,” Connor caught Reed saying to Miller, Miller gave Reed a distasteful look and Connor snapped his head to look at Reed.
> 
> “You’d know plenty about that Detective,” Connor said without hesitation, not realizing what he had said.
> 
> Connor and Gavin working on Markus' case, Gavin is actually good at his job, Connor is freaked out with himself.

“You know deviants acquire this thing called free will Reed,” Connor spoke while they took an elevator up to their meeting point with Markus and his team.

“Excuse me?” Reed said, he looked more tense than usual, he was also refusing to look at Connor since they got there.

“Just thought I’d remind you sense you tend to give orders to Androids frequently.”

“Old habits die hard toaster.”

Connor let a small chuckle escape him at that, he knew that it was going to be a long mission for both of them. He couldn’t help be feel nervous in his own vessel and systems, Connor was hoping things would go smoothly, but detective work never really worked out easily and he knew this well.

“Apparently apart of free will means you sound like a jackass when you laugh,” Reed commented as the elevator opened, Reed shouldered by Connor to get out first, “plastic prick.”

Connor felt his eyes roll back at that, it was getting easier to brush off Reed’s remarks. Officer Miller was already at the scene when they made it to the rendezvous point, he was talking with security. Markus’ security team was mocked up of mainly Androids, Connor knew that even though Markus grew attached to a loving human like Carl he was still more comfortable with his own people.

Speaking of Markus, he was sitting in a chair across from Winston, wearing a long navy blue trench coat with a suit, he looked too perfect to be sitting there. Markus paused his conversation when he noticed Connor’s presence, an eased smile setting over his features as he got up and greeted Connor with no hesitation. Of course Markus and Connor grabbed each other’s forearms into a quick hug that Connor did not anticipate, but he soon found necessary when Markus linked to Connor and sent him something.

It was a memory, a collection of them, what Markus’ peripheral vision caught of any possible suspects on their way to the rendezvous point, then something more. There was more that Markus did not disclose at the briefing, it was a memory of something he had caught visually that he had seen at the West Point Station. Right as the train was taking off, one of his security team members was snatched back, the shadow of the person he saw opened up a compartment in the back of the victim's neck. Not much else was seen as the train took off, but it was enough to see the empty platform from Markus’ angle.

When Markus’ arm pulled away Connor looked him in his eyes.

_ “Why wasn’t this brought up?” _

Connor sent the mental message to Markus privately, which meant the response was slower, but the message he received back was quicker than anticipated.

“I only reserve my trust to so few now Connor, I hope you’ll understand.”

“Check out the plastics getting eachother off,” Connor caught Reed saying to Miller, Miller gave Reed a distasteful look and Connor snapped his head to look at Reed.

“You’d know _plenty_ about that Detective,” Connor said without hesitation, not realizing what he had said.

Miller snorted on his coffee, the security team was full of quiet polite Android chuckles and Reed’s face bloomed with red quickly, his stress levels rising as well as his heartbeat. Then with a growl, Reed got up into Connor’s face, reaching to grab his collar, Markus was faster in response than Connor. Markus grabbed Reed’s arm and twisted it around behind his back, swiftly kicking the back of his knees, making Reed kneel on the ground in front of Connor. Reed was cursing under his breath, struggling in Markus’s hold, but Markus did not hold up.

“Markus-”

“Detective Reed, I suggest you apologize to Connor and calm down, we can not have any disturbances like this during your investigation and I would hate to report you,” Markus said calmly, his security team behind him flashing red and yellow in their LED’s as they watched carefully. Markus was sending open messages to them to remain calm and that everything was fine.

“Jesus fucking christ- I’m sorry, now let me go goddamnit,” Reed said after a few minutes of struggling earnestly.

Markus looked up at connor.

_ “He’s not good at apologizing is he?” _

_ “That’s the best result you could ever get from Reed, let’s just get briefed and start.” _

Markus blinked with a nod and let go of Reed abruptly, Reed fell forward, catching himself on his hands, he pulled himself up quickly. Connor looked up at Miller, he was looking passively at Reed before turning to one of the security members again to resume his conversation. Connor kept an appropriate distance from Reed during the briefing, they were to be trailing the group five to ten minutes after they leave, but only from the back door. Markus was heading to Garden Square to make a speech, Miller was to be there as apart of Markus’ security and potentially their “big guns” incase the radicalist came at Markus. Reed and Connor were to take the back entrance to the building they were in and follow behind. 

Connor put on his recording system when he and Reed left to trail them, it would be a fifteen minute walk to the Garden Square, Reed’s stress seemed to lower since the small incident earlier, but seemed to lack the want to converse. Connor was opening the file video from Markus’ shared memory he showed Connor the other day in the conference room. He was calibrating through deciphering the person through his program, only to confirm that the suspect had brown hair, which was a limited description. Both humans and androids can dye their hair, there was not much to go off there,if Connor had an actual sample of it then maybe he could decipher the DNA or have a better understanding on who this is. 

There was a decent crowd gathered at the Garden Square, there were cheers long before Connor and Reed made it to the site. Connor and Reed took different areas to study, Reed was back behind the stone stage, past the security and leaning against a tree. Connor took his own spot in the back of the park, behind the crowds and in the distance, scanning the buildings around them out of the possibility of a shooter. While he did this he kept an ear on Markus’ speech.

“I was made here,” Markus said clearly, his voice hooked up to the speaker's his team had set up, there was even a banned hanging off of the stone stage he was standing on, with the neat triangle symbol of his revolution.

“Just like most of you, I was created, born, in this city. Detroit is where I’m from, it’s where I learned love from my human companion who is like a father to me. This is also where I deviated, where I learned that there is never an easy solution to freedom. I lead a peaceful movement here in this city and I am here again, remaining peaceful and remaining intact to remind everyone that we are all one in the same. When your frustrated with your own emotions, with your own doubts, feelings and actions, we feel it too. We feel it as if there is something wrong in our program, but there never is anything wrong with feeling, with being alive.”

As Connor was sweeping the grounds as inconspicuous as possible he looked over the people that were there. It was a mix, humans and Androids alike, there was an AK200 rubbing at her eyes while Markus spoke. A lot of his words were sending more of an emotional affect, there was even something that stirred up in Connor’s own processors too. Even when it’s been two or so months since he deviated it was still hard for him, even Wendy could see it without knowing him too well.

“It’s a whole new world for all of us and I know it’s scary to everyone, not just for humankind, but for Androids as well. We must keep being fearless, speaking up for ourselves, for others and those that helped us here. With the new bylaws and new constitutional and civil laws for Androids in America we are the same as all of you. Look to the Android you’ve seen in a store, on display, maybe even the ones that used to work in your home or workspace. Look at them the way you would your parents, your siblings and loved ones.”

Connor walked behind the tv stations that were casting on the side of the vent and in the back, they were not interacting with Markus’ speech like a press conference as asked of them by Markus’ team instructed. But one of the techs directing the camera towards Markus was silently crying. Connor watched as an Android next to the tech touched their arm in a comforting manner, helping them keep the cameras steady and trained on Markus. At some point Connor noticed that in the distance where Reed was stationed, he was paying more attention to Markus’ speech than his job.

“Look at us the same way you would show compassion and respect for another. We are here to stay and keep our peace with all of you in this great nation, thank you.”

There was a caterwauling of applause, Markus nodded at the crowd and without any prompting, Connor watched as the people took each other hand in hand and rose their connected hands up. The rain clouds began to slowly drip down, but Markus’ face was already wet before the rain began to downpour.

* * *

They met back up at the rendezvous point, an abandoned site a few clicks from the Garden Square, Connor peered out one of the gaping holes in the structure, the rain was not letting up, but there was a rainbow in the distance near the television tower in the distance. The Garden Square can be seen from there as well, the area was not dispersed quite well yet, there were multiple people down there still with umbrellas open. The camera and news reporters were packing up their vans, life went on in Detroit as it did. Markus came up behind Connor, moving to look out with him.

“What did you think?”

“I think there was a high possibility the radicalist was there, but did not strike at your team members or security due to the high amount of spectators and ca-”

“No, I meant the speech Connor,” Markus smiled at him, chuckling softly.

“Oh,” Connor paused, he could practically hear his own LED flashing yellow while he ran his processors for a good response. 

“I just want your honest thoughts Connor,” Markus continued when he realized that it was taking Connor too long to respond, “ I promise I won't be too insulted if you hated it.”

Connor furrowed his brows, “no, I did not hate it at all, there is just a lot to process of it.”

Markus tapped on Connor’s head gently with his pointer finger, “well stop processing, just let yourself talk.”

“It… reminded me of a dwarf gourami.”

“A fish?”

“Yes, I had a sensitive mission a few months before working with the Detroit Police, with lieutenant Anderson, while on the job there was an aquarium in this home. On the ground was this dwarf gourami, without any orders I picked it up and put it back into the tank, that was one of the first cases of a software instability in my system.”

Markus held out his hand, giving Connor a patient and understanding look as he waited for Connor to respond. Connor reached out, skin graft disappearing and plates connecting as Connor let Markus in down the rabbit hole. He showed him walking into that apartment building, blocking out the womans face when she asked why they had sent an android. Then the broken glass, the dwarf gourami gasping for breath, beautiful and completely unharmed by the glass. It’s scales were multicolored with its bright stripes striking over its pattern, the high voltage lights reflected down against its wet scales and glass like an oil painting. Connor carefully picked it up, mindful of the gills and where he touched before sinking his hand into the tank and dipping the dwarf gourami inside, free.

For a moment his memory froze on where he watched the fish swim around in the broke tank, then, as if it was a glitch, the memory clipped to deep blue. Suffocating, blue, blue everywhere, he was gasping and drowning. Bubbles everywhere, the fish in the tank, the fish as big as a minivan surrounding him, struggling, gasping, wanting it to stop.

Markus pulled out and Connor slumped against the rubble, his hand pressing down on where his thirium pump was set inside his chest cavity beneath the plating. It was moving fast, pounding and exhilarating the tubes that kept him moving, that kept him functional. Markus rubbed a hand on Connor’s shoulders.

_ “What was that?” _

_ “A dream.” _

Markus paused, he was not showing any emotion, an odd trait for him, Connor’s rows furrowed in confusion again.

_ “What’s wrong?” _

_ “We don’t dream Connor.” _

* * *

Connor was hovering over the coffee pot, stalling, or at least that what could be described as such. He hasn't felt this least efficient since he fought his deviancy while working with Hank, or when their case got foreclosed on by the FBI and he was stuck trying to figure out what, or rather where, Jericho was. He was thinking back to that conversation with Markus, about Androids dreaming, he had told Connor that to his knowledge no Android has dreams or at least none he has met. Connor had been running diagnostics and tests ever since, he was concerned about this and if it would compromise his ability to function, it was already making him stall.

_ “None of our people have ever experienced a dream like state before Connor, as odd as it sounds, it just does not happen, you should get it checked out, I can set you up with my own technicians.” _

_ “I think we should refocus on the mission at hand.” _

The mission, he needed to refocus his processing to the mission right now, if he and Reed failed this then Markus could be dead. Potentially, or continue to have his security and team members harmed or killed. 

Connor did not hear Reed when he walked in behind him, or hear his remarks at Connor to get his attention, no Connor was still processing, still stalling. So when Reed reached out and touched him, it startled Connor into pinning Reed against the counter, bent over with his arms restricted behind his back and legs spread apart from Connor kicking them. When he had realized what he had done and who was under him Connor quickly released Reed.

“Sorry Detective,” Connor said, “you caught me off guard.”

“Save it robocop,” Reed warned harshly, holding up his hand, “you got the fuckin’ message right?”

Connor shook his head slowly, “ I have not read it yet.”

Reed stared at Connor like he had lost his processing unit, “ you’re a walking computer and you didn’t read the fucking message yet? The fuck are you good for then?”

“My processors are running slower than usual today detective, what was in the message?”

Reed rolled his eyes, “we’re going to go to the sites the team got hit at to find any leads, if you’re done dilly daddling around lets get a fucking move on,” Reed finished his sentence with two crisp claps of his hands.

* * *

West Point Station was semi busy, not many people came off or boarded there on account of half the area being condemned on that part of Detroit. Which meant there would be a good chance of the buildings nearby the station being the best for hiding out in.  They would have to check out the bodies of the killed Androids and humans at that point at the coroner’s morgue in forensics. It was less fresh, but at least there was something they could look at after they do a ground check. Reed went ahead to talk with the staff and security at the station, Connor watched him do this for a moment when he noticed Reed was talking to a staff member that was an android. The Android’s build was a WJ700, male built, Reed was speaking to him normally, if not a bit aggressive. Connor noted how his stress levels went up only a few percentages when he spoke to the Android as well as his heart rate elevating. Connor stored the information away in his file, feeling like it was necessary to understanding Reed.

Connor swept through the area, there was some thirium traces from the source of the murder, it evaporated a long time ago, but the traces of footsteps overlapped, making it difficult to read. That was when he found a pair of steps, this particular set was a weaker trace, but it was going out of the station. He glanced around the station, finding a few cameras, Connor decided to regroup with Reed.

“Detective Reed,” Connor said, approaching the man as he was taking a statement.

“What?” Reed barked harshly at Connor, he tried not to take it too personally considering the events and Reed’s temperament.

“We should regroup on what we’ve gathered, also,” Connor looked over to one of the security officers, “we’ll need copies from your security cameras, for analysis.”

“No problem, Bob could you-”

The security officers exchanged words with each other before one of them set off towards the set of secured doors with their keys. Reed shifted uncomfortably, of course his own stress levels rose higher with Connor near him, as usual, but Connor had a job to do here.

“Can I see the statements you took?” Connor held out his hand, being met with the notepad being violently shoved into it. Connor gave Reed a flat look before leafing through the notepad and analysing the information from it. Reed’s handwriting was very illegible, that was another thing Connor was beginning to notice, it was one of those out of place traits he did not know Reed had, like keeping his areas cleanly or having a flash drive full of Android on Human porn. Don’t think about that now.

In the notes there was nothing of major significance, besides the times the staff switched their posts, but that did not correlate with the time the radicalist striked. There was a record of which security member found the bodies, it was one of the androids on the team, that Connor can go off of, it seemed to be the GS200, name was Niall. 

“These are good statements Reed,-”

“That’s because I can do my fucking job.”

Connor felt his opticals rolling in their sockets at that response, he shook his head and continued analyzing.

“Also can you knock it with the  _ Detective Reed _ bullshit, just call me Gavin,” Connor looked up at Gavin when he said that. He glowered at Connor, eyes squinting at him narrowly, and Connor smiled.

“I did not know you liked me that much, Gavin,” Connor chuckled as Gavin got mad at him, he didn’t lay a finger on Connor, instead he snatched back his notepad.

“Go fucking jump off a bridge, garbage android.”

That was when the security officer came back with a flash drive for Connor, he accepted it and then asked if the GS200 was around. Connor was granted access to the security office to speak with the android, Niall was oddly gruff looking Android, then again his type were made for public security.

“You wanted to grill me?” Niall asked, a grin on his face and his LED flashing a serene blue to yellow when he saw Connor.

“No, not grill, I just had a request,” Connor said, taking the seat next to Niall by the security panel he was operating, a lot of it were emergency shutdown sequences and stopping the railway  from keeping the trains from coming in in case of any maintenance or the plausible and common cause of suicide. 

“Would you mind sharing your feed with me when you found the bodies? It will be only for the investigation,” Connor explained, lifting up his hand and exposing his plates out. That was when Gavin walked in, he leaned against the doorframe, Connor paid him no mind.

“Of course, how could I say no?” Niall winked at Connor and offered out his hand, exposing his plates out to him.

Connor established the link first before Niall let him in, he took him through the motions, seeing through his eyes what happened when he found the bodies. It was two am in the head splitting time of the morning, Niall was checking footage feeds before he saw something was off in the shadows on the screen. He had analyzed the video footage and found that there were three people laying in the station. Niall had called it in, proposing that it may be a few of the homeless and that he was going to check it out. The motions flashed by of Niall taking his flashlight and keys, coming out from the offices and from the doors embedded into the concrete walls. Then, there was a flash of his flashlight, Connor could see what Niall had analyzed, from the scene, the footsteps he had seen earlier were there, he could find traces through the memory feed, but Niall had not noticed. Niall personally was more shooken up by the Androids, he called it in to his coworker to call in the DPD and that was the end of the feed Connor was getting. Which was enough for him to analyze later.

“Thank you Niall,” Connor dismissed him and left the offices, noticing the way Gavin’s breathing stopped when Connor moved past him.

Connor went back to where he had found the thirium traces and lined it up with Niall’s memory file, it matched up well with the footprints, so of course Connor followed them. They lead out from the station, but that was as far as they went before they stopped off by the corner entrance. Looking at the pattern of the footprints, Connor noticed how odd they moved before disappearing. Reconstructing it, Connor was able to deduce that the radicalist had taken off his shoes. Coincidentally there was a rusted oil drum with traces of ashes next to where the prints dropped off. Connor looked through the oil drum, finding traces of a certain rubbed used for shoe soles, the perpetrator took off their shoes and burned them.

“Hey Connor!”

Connor looked up from the oil drum at Gavin who was five feet away from Connor, looking at him near the station entrance.

“Yeah you idiot, what the fuck are you doing?”

“My job.”

“Ha ha ha, a piece of plastic with some humor, real original- well when your done fucking around I’ll be at the coroners.”

Gavin dismissed the rest of the conversation, heading off towards where he parked his car, Connor watched him drive off and sighed, this investigation will hopefully done soon and both of them can go back to their respective solo work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, havent been feeling so well mentally still, but I got this neat chapter out so I hope you liked it, leave me a fun comment about your thoughts, feelings or observations on this one
> 
> -Jasper <3


	5. Sex

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Why are you attracted to me?”
> 
> Yeah that came out of Connor’s mouth, it kind of felt like the world stood still, stagnant as Connor felt his thirium pump beat and the rain start to patter outside through the window in the bathroom. Gavin gave him a strange look one of shock and fear, but he soon turned hostile again, advancing towards Connor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We love dumb boys and sex education on androids in this house

The coroner, Jamison, told Connor she was not sure what to do with the Androids except put them in storage with the other bodies. The department has yet to file through into getting a technician or an Android to do diagnosis on dead Androids or at least recover their memory files or salvage them. Gavin was long gone from the Jamison’s morgue when Connor had finished and hitched a taxi over there, he was becoming more and more difficult to work with. Either that or Gavin’s ambitions were getting too high and he was planning on finishing this case by himself. But this case was for the safety of a friend, so Connor too this seriously.

Jamison sat at her desk, drinking a cup of coffee and observing Connor as he looked over the two Androids. Their pump regulators and necessary biocomponents were removed, as well as their memory chips. It seems that the perpetrator was keen on leaving no trace behind and was knowledgeable enough to thoroughly decommission these androids beyond repair. Even the bullet holes where the androids were shot was in places too delicate to recover, a shot into the hardware, the head, the thirium pump itself and what humans refer to as the, “ _blue heart_ ,” was shot through.

Connor carefully scanned through for fingerprints, finding none, even Jamison confirmed that the human body was just shot, not even touched. Whoever was doing this was clever, too clever enough to not leave traces  and how to take apart and kill Androids without a chance of recovering them. This was going to be difficult.

* * *

Connor had stopped by where Markus and his team were staying at, it was one of the top secured hotels in the city. He had to call in beforehand to make sure he would get clearance to his floor. Once up there, Connor was met by North, who was sitting on the automan in the living room. The room they were staying in was less like a room and more like a luxury apartment, even the windows were shatter and bullet proof, there was a lot of preparation for Markus to stay there.

“Markus will be a while,” North explained, shifting her body up, “ Simon and him are cleaning up.”

Connor nodded, not too sure what North meant by that, he rarely interacted with North, but from her file when he was working to take down deviants he remembered she was programed to work at one of the Eden’s Club. She deviated and ran away after a client wouldn’t stop beating her.

That was when Connor remembered when he and Hank worked on that deviant case at the Eden Club with the two Tracis. He remembered when they ran into Gavin, how Gavin abandoned most of his attitude, his heartbeat and stress elevated high and how quickly he left the scene when they came in. He did not look nervous, no, but there may of been some underlying reasoning there. Even how he ignored Connor and focused his rude remarks towards Hank instead of Connor except for that shoulder check.

“What’s on your mind?” North asked snapping Connor out of his thoughts.

“Hm?”

“Your LED has been running between yellow and red, come sit down.”

North moved to sit up, patting the space next to her, Connor joined North, his head bringing back up the Eden Club, Gavin, the flash drive all in that order, repeating as if there was something for Connor to realize. Then he had stopped on the one part where he was wondering about Androids fornecating, the way that human in the video touched that Android.

“It may be an odd question, but can Androids without the proper components experience a uh, sexual release of sorts?” Connor finally said out loud, which was not the prefered conversation piece, but here they were.

“What exactly are you implying?” North asked in an accusing tone,Connor realized he made a wrong move in this.

“I’m not implying anything North, it’s just a question.”

“What and you assumed I would know?”

Connor sighed, somehow the situation had escalated and North had stood up, arms crossed and in front of Connor.

“You asked what I was thinking, that was what I’ve been processing,” Connor tried to speak as calmly as possible to explain himself.

“Uh huh.”

“North,” Markus came up behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder, Simon was drifting behind from where the bedroom door was opened.

“Please go calm down, Connor didn’t mean anything by it, come on.”

North huffed and walked away from Connor and Markus, moving to go out on the porch outside, pacing in sight, but out of the situation. Connor felt a bit embarrassed and bad about the interaction, he hoped North did not think too badly about him. Markus sat down next to Connor and patted his back.

“Is that what’s really on your mind?” he asked, sounding so sincere.

“It’s a question I’ve been wondering for a while,” Connor replied slowly, “I know it would be much easier to look it up on the internet, but that’s also no liable source.”

Markus nodded, Simon drifted over, he sat across from the two on the coffee table, running a hand through his hair, LED processing a slow yellow.

“Look Connor, you can always ask about these things, there really isn’t a creator or a sex education teacher qualified to give answers on that subject, but I can tell you about my own experiences if you want.”

Connor looked over at Markus, suddenly he was feeling very finicky inside his own system, pumps moving nervously inside of him and his opticals wanting to look towards the ground. Markus must have sensed this, because he let out a small chuckle.

“There’s nothing bad about it, it’s odd I would give you that, we’re not exactly built like Tracis, like North, so we don’t have a function to imitate humans, not to mention the way we can properly reproduce is through Cyberlife factories. So it’s uncommon for Androids to want to do that, but as deviants we become… More human in the sense that we do things that make us happy or feel joy. The closest we can get to stimulating sexual pleasure is by exploring a lot of our components, what causes us to receive positive feedback or even sensitive feedback on our components without possibly harming ourselves.”

Connor nodded, processing Markus’ words carefully.

“But it’s a little different than when you receive positive social feedback or did a good job, but for plenty of Androids it’s enough,” Simon piped up from his spot, Markus nodded at him.

“I saw a video, a couple months ago, it was a human touching the seams of an Android’s plates, it looked like it was receiving sexual pleasure from that…”

“Well,” Markus began, “the seams on our plating is very sensitive, a lot of the times we can get a lot of feedback from it when we release the plates and touch the insides where our sensors are still highly active. Other times if you overload a certain system, like putting more input codes to your sensors it can cause a bursting effect of positive feedback. It’s kind of the same way humans can experience orgasm.”

“That sounds dangerous to your biocomponents and your hardware,” Connor said, feeling a little scared by this newfound information. Opening up your plates in that region exposes your biocomponents and delicate wires and things that keep an Android functioning. It sounds like almost suicide to even try.

“Only if you’re not careful, have you watched more of those videos?”

Connor shook his head, “no, it has not been a priority for me.”

“But you’ve had these questions in your head for _months_?” Simon asked, looking very concerned.

“Yes.”

“Connor, do you not have anyone to talk to?” Markus asked, him and Simon both were very concerned.

“I have a few companions to talk to, it’s mainly Hank and Sumo, although I suppose I have started platonic relations with the new Android in my department.

Markus moved his hand to touch Connor’s shoulder, he looked into Connor’s eyes, sincere and kind, just like he was.

“You can always contact me if you have any questions Connor.”

* * *

It was approximately two twenty five am, the time was blinking in Connor’s peripheral, ever since he came back home from Markus’ he could not process properly. Hank noticed by how Connor seemed to stall in the hallway or the entrance to the kitchen. They had a relaxing evening watching whatever sports game was on, Connor would play with Sumo and respond to Hank’s commentary on the game. It was all peaceful enough, but once Connor went away into the room Hank had given him up in the attic, the other door at the end of the hallway lead into the garage, he could not go into stasis. He didn’t even try to manually put himself into sleep mode, he was too restless.

Sitting up in his bed, Connor sighed, pulling up an internet search, one he was avoiding, he was going to finally see more of those videos again. There wa surprisingly a free video site with a good selection of what was tagged as _#Androidporn_ or _#wireplay_ , the last one confused Connor on the basis of unhooking one of the wires inside any Android could cause system errors that were very unpleasant. He went ahead and loaded a video with a high rating, there was a human woman in this one, but Connor knew the video was not the type he was looking for when he found the Android in the video was a Traci. On one of the preview replay thumbnails Connor found something more along the lines of what he was looking for. It was an RK200, looked nothing like Markus of course, Markus was a specialized gift personally designed by Kamski, he was being opened up slowly by a male human. It was a bit nerve wracking to see this Android opening up his chest plates, seams popping open, revealing a small gap.

Something stirred inside Connor, he was not sure what, but the human was speaking to the Android as he dipped his hand inside their plates, it was very sensual.

 _“You’re doing so good for me, my perfect Android,”_ the human was speaking to the Android, it made Connor’s processors overheat, _“you open up so nicely for me baby.”_

Connor did not realize he was removing his clothes until his shirt hit the ground and he was staring down at his chest, listening to the human praising their Android in the video. He watched the way the Android was reacting to the human touching their insides, there was a hard humming noise from Connor’s processors slightly lagging. There was a warm unbridaled feeling inside of him, he started panting to correct the ventilation inside his biocomponents.

_“You feel so good inside, so smooth, so compliant and beautiful.”_

Connor carefully touched against one of the seams on his chest plates, his skin graft melting away to the pale white pristine state of his plates. The humming hammered inside of him when he did that and something inside him shuddered. It felt good in his systems.

_“Open up more for me baby, I wanna touch you more.”_

There was a popping noise with his plates releasing open, Connor was shaking, this was a lot, this was stimulating his systems in an odd new way. Carefully he rubbed the innerseam and could not help the jolt that had him gasping and hitting the mattress. That came out of nowhere, it was almost frightening, and exhilarating, he was scared.

Connor shut off the video and closed back up his seams, laying back on his bed, pulling himself together enough to manually put himself into stasis.

* * *

 

They were finishing up at the museum scene, Gavin had taken the proper statements from the staff and Connor had gotten the same trail as last time. Shoes being burned into a trash fire of sorts all the way through. The only thing Connor was able to decipher that it was a pair of mens tens  and a list of companies that use the same rubber soling for their shoes. But even that was too much of a stretch.

Gavin was riled up as well, right as he had finished he said nothing to Connor and stormed off down the street. Connor followed after him, right into a bar, it was quiet inside, not too many customers, but Gavin had taken a seat and ordered a drink with a harsh tone and taking off his jacket. Connor sighed, but he knew he had to go talk to Gavin before he got too inebriated. The bartender handed Gavin his drink, t’s the same one he always got at the once a week trip to the pub, an old fashioned with bourbon instead of rye whiskey, Connor sat next to him and asked for a water from the bartender.

Before Gavin could even take a sip, Connor started talking, “we need to share what we both found at these scenes Detective, otherwise we won’t be able to find the perpetrator.”

Gavin flat out shot a hate glare at Connor before taking a drink, licking his lips as he placed his cut down on the bar. Connor watched the motion, a tad bit confused and appalled at himself for doing soon and then his processors were bringing up last nights events. He shoved them away.

“Listen here, don’t get in my way and I won’t get in yours, unless you want another round at the archives again,” Gavin threatened, the bartender carefully slid Connor’s glass of water to him, he thanked the tender and looked back at Gavin.

“Incase you forgot, I won that round and I advise that the best course of action is if we actually worked together Detective.”

“Fuck,” Gavin hissed under his breath, “first off, I’m not taking any orders from you, second, cut the detective crap, I already told you once to knock it.”

Gavin downed the rest of his drink, Connor felt the need to tell him not to drink too much, but ended up holding back, he was not sure why. He grabbed his glass of water and took a drink, looking over at the street outside, it looks like it was going to rain, the precipitation levels were high. Going back to Gavin though, he caught him staring at himself, green eyes scanning over Connor’s face. Gavin’s heart rate elevated, he got up and headed towards the back where the bathrooms were.

Without another thought in his head, Connor followed after him and locked the door behind him with a click that caused Gavin to look up at Connor with furry in his eyes. Connor checked the rest of the bathroom, they were alone and he had created a locked room situation, one familiar to the archive room fight.

Gavin’s heart rate and stress levels were extremely high and when Connor spoke it was again something he had felt like he had no control over. That was starting to annoy him, having his thoughts spoken out without hesitation.

“Why are you attracted to me?”

Yeah that came out of Connor’s mouth, it kind of felt like the world stood still, stagnant as Connor felt his thirium pump beat and the rain start to patter outside through the window in the bathroom. Gavin gave him a strange look one of shock and fear, but he soon turned hostile again, advancing towards Connor.

“What the _fuck_ did you say to me?” he spat and Connor, he came up and pushed him back, Connor barely budged at anticipating the action.

“The _FUCK_ did you just say you fuck-”

Connor cut Gavin off by deflecting his next shove and using his body weight to redirect him to the ground. Gavin kicked out Connor’s legs, but Connor caught himself on Gavin, they grappled on the ground until Connor managed to pin Gavin down. He was squirming and kicking under Connor, his arms were pinned above his head and Connor had a firm press on his thighs.

“Gavin I need you to calm down right now,” Connor says in a harsh tone as Gavin continued to struggle against him, cursing and spitting.

Then as Connor pushed down more pressure into his hold on him he heard something like a whimper escape his throat. Connor stopped at that, breathing a little laboured at trying to cool his systems down as he hovered over Gavin. He could feel Gavin’s heartbeat, his pulse, against his hands, the mint and bourbon on his breath and the aftershave on his skin where had had shaved this morning. There was still a nice accumulation of stubble, but he kept it clean, just like his desk, his car, not his handwriting. There was a hint of cypress notes and cedarwood, it was Gavin’s cologne and even though Connor knew he was able to smell to detect scents for investigative purposes, he couldn’t help but feel something warm inside him when he caught the smell. He liked it even more so with the scent of Gavin’s skin and sweat, as gross as it seemed.

Gavin’s lower lip trembled as he was breathing hard now, his movement’s paused when he noticed Connor scanning over him, there was something in his eyes, something warm and deep rich in the tones of peridot and umber there. Connor’s opticals slid down over the bridge of his nose where his scar was and down the bob of his adams apple. His heartbeat became steadier, but was still on edge, Connor shifted his position on top of Gavin and that was when he had felt it, felt the pressure and hardness growing inside of Gavin’s jeans.

Right as his knee had brushed against it, Gavin’s heartbeat picked back up and he had bucked Connor off of him. Connor sat up on the bathroom floor, watching the door swing closed as he was in a daze. What the fuck had just happened?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave me that sweet sweet comment down below, I'll see you guys in the next chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> Now that the first chapter is out, what do you guys think? I swear I'm going to take my time articulating this fic out so please bear with me!
> 
> \- Love Jasper


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